Gaikokujin
by hanafuda
Summary: An American professor teaches the first-years at Otonokizaka his mother tongue and watches and listens in horror as they destroy it. Oh well. There is hope. Probably OC, may accidentally be OOC.
1. Good afternoon!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Love Live! Also, there are a lot of first to third person POV changes. You can tell with the I's and the references to the girls' heads that there are two POVs around. The first person is actually mostly what Professor is thinking. Going to fix that next chapter.**

 _Italics denotes words and phrases said in English. Everything else is technically in Japanese._

April 23.

New school year. Teaching English at Otonakizaka, a school on the verge of closing. I get to class late in the day before anyone else arrives. Before lunch I teach second-year algebra. Now I teach the first-years... my mother tongue.

 _"Good afternoon class!"_

The girls sat there in the classroom, flabbergasted. Must be English, their mutual thoughts were.

"Good morning class. My name is… … umm…"

Nothing like trolling. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. I will be teaching you my language, English."

Some of the girls groaned.

"I know, I know. English is a very difficult language to learn."

No it isn't, Professor thought. It just doesn't sit well with Japanese. "Pronunciation, grammar, articles, all completely different things from what you are used to. However, we will be working to solve that situation in this class. I am a native speaker of English. I come from Scotland, which is in the United Kingdom. And I am very excited to be working with all of you this year."

Hanayo sat beaming in her chair. She was very excited. Rin was already sweating buckets. She had to bring buckets into the classroom and put them around their seats. Maki sat there, studying Professor. Not what I thought Americans would be like, she thought.

"So! First, I would like everyone to introduce yourself. In English, and in the West in general, your first name come before your last. All you have to do is say, _'My name is...'_ and your first and last name.I'll repeat it: Mai nēmu izu...' Let's go down the rows.

Each student stood up and introduced herself. Professor immediately noticed some naturals and some heavy-accented girls. Not a big deal.

Maki stood up. _"My name is... Maki Nishikino."_ Professorsmiled.

Hanayo stood up a few seats down. "Mai nēmu... izu..."

"Speak up, please. Don't be shy."

"Mai nēmu izu Hanayo Koizumi."

We'll work on that.

Rin sat at the back of the room.

"It's your turn, ma'am!"

Rin's eyes widened. "Eeh~?"

Some of the girls laughed.

"Don't worry! English isn't easy to learn on your own. Everyone makes mistakes. It's fine."

They surely don't drill things down our throats like this back in America, Professor thought.

"Uh... What do I say again?"

"Mai nēmu izu... And your name."

Ok, Rin, you can do this.

"Mai... nēmu... issu... Rin Hoshizora. Yeah."

"Fantastic." Professor had already committed all the girls' names to memory. Now...

Uh...

Er...

HE...

... *sigh*

"So! I am passing out a syllabus for everyone to look over with their parents and sign by the end of the week. Not entirely sure if this is normal in Japan, but, pretty normal in America, heh."

"Now, before we get into learning English, I'd like to humor you with the history of the language..."

Bored the class, eh?

Professor showed them an excerpt from _Beowulf_ in Old English.

The students were completely blanked.

"So if you've seen even a bit of English, you should be glad it's evolved like it has over the centuries. And that you don't have to learn this. Even more complicated in my opinion."

Maybe because I don't know Old English. Huh. I really need to focus on speaking and not thinking, unless it's in Japanese.

The bell rang, signaling the end of the day.

 _"See you tomorrow!"_

Eyes widened as they exited the room.


	2. Test

**I'm doing this instead of my homework :D**

May 1.

Another day, another English lesson or something. Today, the first-years had their first test on English. Simple things, like "Hello," "How are you?" "I am from..." … some simple classroom vocabulary, like book, desk, pencil, teacher, science, math, etc. Simple things, really! For some people. Few people. Probably two. But that's ok. Probably.

"OK, class! It's time for your first test! I hope everyone of you studied, because if you did, even a little, you'll probably pass this test with flying colors."

Huh, that sounds better in English, doesn't it...

Rin sat at the back of the room, once again sweating buckets. She didn't study. She instead believed that she would have to recall everything in order to improve. And she isn't incorrect.

But she should have learned everything first.

Professed walked up and down the rows, passing out tests. Sweating Rin didn't catch his eye. He was too busy worrying that few people would pass with a C. Huh.

Directions: write the word that corresponds to each picture.

1.

A stick, reading Ticonderoga #2, with a sharpened end.

Hanayo thought for a little bit. Enpitsu came to mind naturally... _Pencil._ It sort of sounded like enpitsu. She wrote it down. The c looked more like an o, but there was just enough space to differentiate the two letters and confirm that it was a c.

Maki put down _pencil_ without thinking.

Rin's sweating abated slightly. She inhaled. _Pencil_ came to mind. She wrote down _penc_ _イ_ _l._ The dot above the i looked more like a curved stroke, but no matter.

2.

Pieces of paper bound together.

Hon came to Hanayo's mind, and she put down _book._

Maki did the same with little thought.

A worried countenance came over Rin again, and sweat dripped down her face again. She trembled as her mind failed to recollect the word. What was it? Think, Rin, think! Ugh!

Rin leaned forward and put her hand over her head. Let's look at the next picture.

3.

What 3? Maki was already on 5.

…

Professor studied the answer key. All he could think about was how a kindergartener from his country could pass this test in a couple of minutes. Fifty minutes remained in the hour-long period. It's a real sacrifice.

…

Now Rin was stressing over 3.

What is that?

Is that a real thing?

It's a...

A...

 _Notebook,_ Hanayo and Maki thought, mutually but some thirty seconds apart. Maki was now on 6.

"Eh... eh..."

…

A mysterious sound piqued Professor's interest. He looked up. Girls looking down, some with indifferent faces, some with worried or concerned ones. In the back, Rin was still sweating.

Professor looked back at the key, making sure to shield it with his laptop. Rin looked up, making sure that the clear was coast.

WHAT IS THAT?!

Lighting struck in Rin's brain. Rain poured down like buckets. Of sweat. Thunder crackled, becoming louder and sounding closer every second and a third. Rin visualized a magnifying glass scouring her large brain over. Meanwhile a telescope was zooming in on her small brain within her skull. A white gloved hand reached into her brain. Rin felt a ping. She looked at the ceiling. A candle was lit over her head.

 _Table._ That must be it. Rin quickly penned it, her tongue sticking out.

4.

A... *sigh* a wood slab propped up by metal legs.

So it must be _notebook!_ Rin closed her eyes and smiled like a cat. It's all coming back to me, she thought, completely proud of herself.

Hanayo put down desk _._ Maki was still on 6. It was her first time in deep thought. Everyone else was keeping at Hanayo's pace. Only five minutes had gone by. Only.

5.

What... the...

A loanword!

Everyone had thought sutēpurā and forced themselves to write _stapler._

Most people began turning the page over to the back side. Some multiple choice questions and a conversation with blank spaces populated this side of the paper.

6\. What is the correct spelling for sensei?

A. Teachar

B. Teacher

C. Ticher

D. Tichar.

…

Professor thought that this was a no-brainer. If such a thing existed in Japan. But either way, that wasn't the case for these girls in the classroom.

Maki exhaled. She closed her eyes and tried to picture the whiteboard and the textbook. How did they spell it there? she thought.

Let's think about this. Come on, Maki.

Professor said something about... vowels, phonetics, double-vowels... I wasn't normally pronounced い… ergo, C and D aren't the most likely choices.

Something called schwa! There we go!

It's A!

Maki circled A.

…

Billy Shakespeare rolled over in his burial place inside the chancel of a Stratford-upon-Avon, British church.

…

7 through 10 were similar questions.

11 through 15 came up. A calendar labeled August (from 2013) came up.

11\. Jūichinichi wa...

Hanayo and Maki wrote _Tuesday_. Rin's sweating ramped up. Again.

But not for long. She had actually memorized the days of the week. There were only seven. She also memorized the months (only twelve) and the days (only thirty-one) (and numbers 1-31. Why only the dates? Because she wanted to impress everyone by reminding them that her birthday "issu on Furaidei, Novenbā Fāsuto dyissu yīā." Maybe first she has to get into the habit of saying Meow (or Myāu, as she puts it) instead of nya(n).

So Rin put _Tuesday,_ exhaled in relief, and wiped the sweat off her forehead. It didn't have much effect, as her collar was completely drenched now, but she felt cooler anyway.

The conversation was next.

Twenty minutes left in class. Professor thought if ten kindergarteners had taken this test one after the other starting now, they would have finished before the period ended. He quickly righted himself. The point is to help these people and encourage them, not criticize them. This was something Professor would really have to drill into his head as much as he would have to drill the future tense into the girls' feeble heads.

 _Good morning, George!_

 _Good morning, David. How are you today?_

 _Fine, __. Hanayo smiled and laughed inside, noticing how the blank and the period and comma surrounding it resembled the face of a whale. She put down _thank you._ Maki did, too.

Rin put down _yeah._ Yeah.

 _And you?_

 _Fine as well. What class are you taking today?_

 _I am taking __ (you can put down any subject here).

 _That's cool. I'm taking __ (you can put any subject here too).

Hanayo put down _science_ (again with c's looking like o's) in the first blank and _mathematiks_ in the second blank. Professor might just overlook that one. Maki put down _English_ and _health_. She laughed to herself, Maybe I can get plus marks there.

Rin put down _history_ and _matematics_. Seemed that only Ami Higa in the front of the room could spell _mathematics_ correctly.

 _Well, have fun, there, OK?_

 _OK. See you later!_

 __._

Some people, like Maki, wrote Bye int the space. Hanayo put down See you soon. Still OK..

Five minutes left in class. Maki played with her pen. Hanayo sat quietly, thinking about what she would be doing at the club fair.

…

Rin put down _whatever_. Oh, whatever. You never let us down.

The bell sounded, and the day was over.

Professor snapped out of his sleep and blinked as he watched everyone file out. Tests lay completed on each desk. He shuffled through the desks picking up each one. The first one he saw was from Fujiko Yamaguchi. She put down _pen_ for problem 1. Professor simply sighed. Though he had arrived around 6 in the morning, and the day ended at two in the afternoon, his day was just beginning.

…

"So, Rin! How did you do on the test?"

Rin perked up.

"W-wha? Oh, right! I did great! Surely!"

Hanayo smiled. "Hehe. How about you, Maki?" She turned to the red-haired girl on her other side.

"I think I did pretty well."

Rin let out a large breath that went unnoticed. Time for the weekend. Time to relax... and... Zzzzzzzzzz...

 **Wow, I'm already getting follows and support from... Two people! Thank you two people! It means a lot to me.**

 **Or was it three?**

 **Oh well.**

 **Get you whenever, doing whatever with whoever wherever, however and for whatever reason!**


	3. Great Expectations for the Class

June 1.

Summer had landed in Akihabara. Thousands of truly dedicated people still walked the streets, taking in the full, blunt, unrelenting force of the sun's rays. Not least of whom, the students at Otonakizaka. Word had been spreading to the teachers that the school had an idol group. It recently added the student council's president and vice president, two third-years named Ayase and Tōjō

"What's an idol group?" Professor politely asked at a teacher meeting.

Minami sighed. Right. He's a gaijin.

"Well, here in Japan, an idol is a person who acts as a role model for people. Singers, dancers, actors, mostly singers and dancers. They're quite popular in Japan. You've never heard of J-pop?"

"Well, I have, but don't know anything about it."

"Sigh..."

Professor felt partially guilty for not knowing about modern Japanese culture, but resented his peers' treatment of him like an idiot.

"Why is it called idol, though?"

"Because people adore them. They adore a lot of cute things. I find it unusual, too."

Professor shook his head.

"On another note... Some of the girls had complained about you."

"Really? What did they say?"

"Well, one girl claimed that you made class boring... Another said that you barely taught the language... One even said that English isn't even your first language."

Professor was utterly shocked.

"Oh? And who might that person be?"

"The complaint was anonymous."

"Well I'll have to find out myself, then."

"Good luck."

"Excuse me."

Professor left the room and headed back to his classroom to collect his belongings and head home. Was he trying hard enough? He thought he was. He believed none of the girls thought the same thing.

Nah. They probably just don't want to learn the language. They have to. He didn't know why. The alternative is Mandarin, or even Cantonese. Or even... Portuguese. Wouldn't that be a bit easier for them? Pronunciations are mostly the same...

…

One day Professor heard some girls on the roof. They sounded like they were dancing, the way they banged their feet on the floor. An unfamiliar voice was speaking.

"Wan, tsu, tsurī, fōa, faibu, shikkusu, seben, ēito! Again! Wan, tsu, tsurī, fōa, faibu, shikkusu, seben, ēito!"

He shook his head, but he knew not why. His job was completely stressing him out. An event from three days before had crossed his mind again.

…

Professor was walking out of the front of the school, looking down. Memories of Edinburgh and Groningen and Madrid were on his mind more often lately.

His house was quite a distance away. That day he decided to take the subway to work. His house was quite a distance away, after all. It was back in Minato, and he could more easily catch up on work in the subway.

Now he was heading back home.

He bought his ticket and boarded the train. People gave him looks through the outside of the window as the train speeded through the tunnel.

A young teenager stood next to him, holding the bars on the side of the train. He looked at Professor.

"Hāro!"

"Eh?"

"Hau ā yū tūdē?"

"Uh, fine. I can speak your language, you know."

"Where are you from?"

"Scotland."

"Huh? But you don't have an accent."

"Well, just because I'm from Britain doesn't mean I have an accent! Geesh. You're so ignorant."

"Okē! I'm sorry!"

*sigh*

Professor looked out the window, at the wall passing by. The train slowed to a stop a few seconds later. He let out a large sigh again as he exited the train to the awkward and/or excited looks of the crowds of natives in front of him.

…

That had really irked him. But he shouldn't have to worry about that now. Tomorrow he would be starting a new lesson.

…

"I'm going to say it again. We're Japanese. Why are they making us learn a different language?"

"Well, it seems up your alley, Rin! You're great at your own language! Haven't you ever dreamed of going to the United States?"

"Hmm... not really... from what I've seen in anime, America gets portrayed quite negatively..."

"Sure, maybe Himaruya has made him out to be a conceited, know-it-all, hero figure... But he seems like a nice guy!"

"They should give Canada more credit."

"Oh, you want to go to Canada?"

"Isn't that where the people record our anime in English?"

"Exactly! But there you have to learn French as well!"

"Rin. I can always help you out with English. Don't be afraid to ask."

"Yeah, Maki's great at English! Right, Maki?"

"I guess. But what about you? Yeah, Honoka. Can you read this?"

Maki held out _Great Expectations_ by Charles Dickens. Maki personally was able to read, but barely comprehend, the book from the public domain. Honoka studied the rōmaji on page 9 very closely.

"Mm... uh... ah..."

"Come on, Honoka! You really are dumb, aren't you?"

"You're such a hypocrite, Nico."

"Right back at you, Nozomi."

"But Nozomi's great at English!"

"Well, not really."

"Yeah you are. Don't deny yourself."

"I never did look at my cards to see if I would be good at English."

"Well, just read this. Come on..."

"OK. If that's your wish.

 _A fearful man, all in coarse gray, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head._ …"

"Wow! That was great, Nozomi-senpai!"

"Who?"

"Oh... I keep forgetting... Nozomi-chan."

"Eli-chi can read Russian if you want her too."

"No she can't! She can't even say it?"

"What?"

"Yeah! How do you get harasho from хорошо when there's clearly three o's there? It's clearly khorosho!"

"*sigh*. You got me there."

"Yep."

"Read this next part, Rin. Come on."

"Uh... eh... ahem.

A man fū haddo bīn sōkudo in watā, ando sumazarudo in maddo, ando rēmudo bai sutōnzu -"

"That's enough. Hanayo, continue."

Hanayo was busy thinking of white rice.

It happened that Professor also loved white rice.

"Koizumi!"

"Eh? What? I'm sorry!"

"Read this part here."

" _Okay_."

"Eh... _and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by..._ brēaruzu-"

" _Briars_."

"OK.

... _who limped, and shivered, and glared, and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he..._ uwā~!"

"What is it?"

"He's going to get me by the chin! Aaaahhh!"

Hanayo tossed the book and fled the room. How that was humanly possible... Only God knows.

 **Today is September 11th, 2015. A date we shall never forget. Thoughts and prayers to every proud American on this earth. Nothing will break us. Nobody can bring us down.**

 **In memory of the 2,996 martyrs**


	4. Nīwenglisce sprǣc

Professor sighed as he looked over the transcripts. Minami Kotori. In his head Professor averaged her grades in 1st-year English to be... a C-. Not what he expected from the principal's daughter. He sighed again. Rumors had been spreading that Kotori had been invited to study in the United States. Professor was worried about how she would manage. He knew that the United States had no official language, yet she would be pressured into speaking English. And when the white people found that she couldn't speak the language well, they would... he didn't want to think about it. Now it was time to pack up and head home.

Seamless transition is seamless not.

"Right. Ms. Nishikino, please read the first paragraph."

Maki stood up and exhaled.

 _"_ _Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world..."_

"That's fine."

...

"Ms. Hoshizora."

"Uh, yessu, sir!"

He chuckled to himself. Rin stood up.

 _"Whereas a common understanding of..._ dīzu _rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this..._ purejji..."

"That's good. I'll read this part."

 _"_ _Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS_ _as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction."_

Everyone was amazed, for some reason, at Professor's dictation.

...

"Ms. Koizumi."

"Right." She stood up.

 _"E_ _veryone has the right to a_ nasshonaritī. _No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his_ nasshonaritī _nor denied the right to change his_ nasshonaritī _."_

...

"Good work, everyone. I was very impressed by your pronunciation. You should expect to be reading out loud in class like this for the rest of the year -"

The bell rang.

"Very well then. I will see you tomorrow."

...

"Why did we have to read that?"

"Professor, I heard, is really big on human rights activism. Always complains about Communism and former Soviet republics and stuff..."

"That... was... so... painful."

"Come on, Rin, that doesn't sound like your normal cheerful self."

"I would rather learn a Romance language so I can get a boyfriend~"

"Rin, that's not what Romance languages are. They're just as hard as English to learn for us and have lots of cognates."

"But French is a Romance language, and it's not lacking in romantic tone, right?"

"You have a point, but French is full of accent marks, and its pronunciation is even more different from Japanese and English."

"Could you teach us Russian, Eli?"

"Well, Hanayo, I could... whether or not you guys are interested in that anyways is the problem. Besides, why learn Russian? Do you want to go to Russia? I wouldn't recommend that as long as Putin's around."

"We could use it like a secret code, you know. Talk in a different language when people aren't around."

"Oh, like English?"

"Hmmph."

"I have heard stories about Americans... Our people are right about portraying them... not negatively, but truthfully. Americans are convinced that everyone who goes to their country should speak their language, even though they do not have an official one."

"They don't?"

"No, but people agree that English is the de facto language. I also hear they get annoyed when they hear us speak English, or even use loanwords and phrases. They call us hypocrites for using English phrases (like 'Naisu shūto!') but not wanting to learn their language."

"So you'd say our Professor is like that, too?"

"Probably. I haven't had him before, but I would keep your eye out on him."

"Right."

...

"Probably one of the most important differences between English and Japanese is the syntax. In Japanese, the order is subject-object-verb. In English, however, the order is subject-object-verb. So, I would not say 私だ退屈, but rather 私は退屈だ in Japanese... but in English, I would say _I am bored_ and not _I bored am_. Just another rule you will have to remember."

Rin whispered to Maki, "Yep, this gaikokujin is clearly trying to shove this language down our throats."

 **A/N: Zzzzzz...**

 **Me gustan las altas y las chaparritas...**


	5. Four Score

It was time for another quiz, this one on verbs, and it seemed that the illustrations were Professor's fault.

Everyone filed into the room and let out a collective sigh as they found the papers on their desks, 30分 (minutes) on the board, and Professor staring at his computer screen. At this point in the year he had given up on the seating chart and decided to let students sit wherever they wanted. This culminated in, unbeknownst to him, Rin, Hanayo, and Makinsitting next to or around each other all the time.

1 through 8 featured [fantastic] drawing by Professor while 9 through 20 were entirely textual. Either way, the point was to write the verb in English. Again, no hill for a stepper. Not even a British one.

1\. A human being is moving his foot towards a stationary soccer ball.

Maki wrote down _to kick._

Hanayo and Rin followed suit. 5% done there, and 5% correct, maybe Rin was putting in more effort. Or maybe not.

2\. A human being is placing a cup to his mouth.

Everyone wrote down _to drink._

3\. Two human beings and a dog have their arms and legs stretched out in opposite directions, and small water drops are visible.

Everyone wrote down _to run._

4\. A human being is sitting in a chair wearing a belt around the lap and shoulder and holding a wheel.

 _to drive._

5\. Two humans are flapping their mouths, hahaha.

 _to talk._

6\. Two cars are driving past a human waving a green flag.

 _to race._

7\. A quarter note and two connected eighth notes exit the mouth of a human holding a microphone.

Rin nearly laughed, because she knew _to sing_ before it was cool.

8\. A human sits in front of a box with a screen on it.

 _to watch._

9\. 遊ぶ

 _to play._

10\. 食べる

 _to eat._

11\. 考える

Maki had made a rare mistake once again, switching around _to think_ and _to believe._ Rin wrote _to think,_ and Hanayo wrote, quite out of the blue, _to contemplate._ That wouldn't get any more or less points.

12\. 守る

 _to protect._

13\. 使う

 _to need._

14\. 書く

 _to write,_ what was being done at this moment.

15\. 愛してる

 _to love._ A rare verb, but love is more a verb in English than _daisuki desu_ is.

16\. いる

 _to be._

17\. 知る

 _to know._

18\. 話す

19\. 思う

Maki put _to think,_ erroneously, here. Rin and Hanayo put down, correctly, _to believe._ Maki had actually checked this and 11 multiple times, trusting her gut which knew the wrong answers.

20\. 出る

 _to exit._ Which is what everyone hoped to do now. It also meant _to leave,_ this test everyone wanted to do so.

Professor stayed at school to grade the quizzes again. He noticed that everyone got 1 through 8 right. Something shocked him - Rin had achieved a perfect score for the first time, and Maki had not, missing two problems. Hanayo and three other girls also got hundreds, and… the lowest grade was an 80! Professor was genuinely shocked. He pondered what this could mean.


	6. The Voices in My Head

It was a normal October day… until Rin remembered what they were doing in English class today and began freaking out.

"Guys! We're going to die! It's like that 'motivational poster' that Maki translated the other day, with Spain on it! 'NOBODY EXPECTS the Spanish Inquisition', it says, but that's what's going to happen!"

"Rin, calm down. This won't be the Spanish Inquisition. People have changed." Maki wondered why she even needed to explain.

Rin once again was freaking out, sweating gallons in class. Here was the deal: Professor was giving out a speaking test.

He had reviewed the questions with everyone the week before, and expected the students to study them all and formulate responses, preferably beforehand. There were six questions to study, and two would be asked at random. And by random, we mean the girls would each roll a die when called up, and the number they rolled would correspond with that of the question Professor would ask. They would roll the die twice and answer two questions, therefore. Seemed simple enough. Unless you're Rin.

Class went by normally. Just a worksheet asking you to name the season described in illustrations (which were once again Professor's fault), and later write out the dates in English for events like New Year and Setsubun, or the Bean Throwing Festival.

The students were called up in horizontal order, meaning of the three μ's members, Rin was the first casualty. She walked up and sat in front of Professor's desk, fidgeting around before the guillotine.

 _"Good afternoon, Ms. Hoshizora."_

 _"Good afternoon, Professor."_

Rolled a 3.

 _"What is your favorite time of day?"_

Rin shrugged, then began speaking. _"My favorite time of day is the afternoon, because it is peaceful."_

Professor thought, Wow, she's really improved. Sounding more like a native speaker every day. Or, maybe he was just trying to be positive.

Rolled a 5.

 _"What is your favorite hobby?"_

 _"My favorite hobby is…_ supōtsu!" (Yeah, she said supōtsu instead of _sports_ , and yes, the u's were slightly audible.)

 _"Good job, Ms. Hoshizora. Have a good day."_

"Yū tū, _Professor."_

Professor couldn't tell the difference between that and _you too._ He wrote down 10/10.

Three persons later, Hanayo was called.

 _"Good afternoon, Ms. Koizumi."_

Immediately Hanayo blushed.

 _"Eh, good afternoon, Professor_ -sensei."

Yep, she cracked. That probably deserved a point off.

Rolled a 3.

 _"What is your favorite time of day?"_

 _"My favorite time of day is the morning, because it is so peaceful."_

Professor nodded.

Rolled a 1.

 _"What is your favorite food?"_

 _"My favorite food is white rice! I love it, just love it."_

Professor chuckled, then turned it into a smile as quickly as he could. He liked white rice too. He decided to stretch it and give her a 10/10 as well.

Maki was one of the last people called up, so she finished her worksheet before she walked up to Professor's desk.

1\. A human wearing a sweater and scarf walking past a tree without leaves.

Maki wrote _winter._ No-brained, again. Sometimes she wondered when she would use English anyways, if she wasn't to pursue her medical career.

2\. Humans sitting on the beach, doing various things done at a beach.

 _Summer._

No. Really? Maki thought.

3\. Humans with umbrellas walked by as rain fell.

 _Spring._

Guess rain is common in spring in North America, Maki thought.

4\. By process of elimination, _autumn._

Humans in assorted outfits were carrying backpacks and flocking to a constitution of buildings, presumably a university campus.

5\. Christmas Eve.

 _December 24th._

6\. Setsubun.

 _February 3th._

7\. St. Valentine's Day.

 _February 14th._

8\. Summer Solstice

 _June 22nd._

9\. Halloween

 _October 31._

10\. Children's Day.

 _May 5._

11\. Thanksgiving (Japan).

 _November 23._

Close to the North American one, anyways.

12\. Floating Lantern Festival.

 _July 15._

13\. Start of Bon Festival.

 _August 13._

14\. All Saints' Day.

Professor personally taught them this one, a while ago. Maki was a bit annoyed, to my dismay, but she wrote, correctly, _November 1._

15\. Your Birthday.

And now she was a bit annoyed about having a free point. We Americans wouldn't understand that feeling, most likely.

 _April 19._

Hooray.

"Ms. Nishikino?"

Four minutes after writing _19._

Maki sat down and pushed the hair out of her face. Professor didn't take much notice of her condescending aura.

She disinterestedly chucked the die and watched it stop, two dots facing up.

 _"For how many hours do you sleep?"_

Maki wished she didn't have this question, pondering how dumb it was.

 _"I… usually… sleep for ten hours every night."_

She rolled 6 now.

 _"What is the first thing you do when you return to your home after school?"_

This is more like it, Maki thought. Long questions like this are my level.

 _"The first thing I do when I return home from school is finish my homework."_

Professor shook his head left and right, slightly, this statement piquing his interest. He wrote 10/10 and said, _"Good job."_ He felt slightly confused when Maki responded, _"Right,"_ as she walked back to her desk.

Two minutes after the last girl finished her oral exam (and got a C, wow, well.) the bell rang.

* * *

"I felt like Professor could pounce at me any moment. I can still imagine his livid face!"

"I'm sure you did fine. How'd you do, Hanayo?" said Nozomi, who more or less knew only survival English and the words _touch, molest, grope, breasts,_ etc.

"I got to tell him that I liked white rice!" she said, beaming.

"Maki?"

"It was too easy."

"Eh?! How could you say that, nya?"

"He's not giving us enough of a challenge."

"Well, I sure feel challenged!"

"Maybe that's because you don't think hard enough!"

Rin was taken aback. Everyone knew Maki was a tsundere, but she rarely snapped at her friends, wait, what's that?

"We've just known each other for a long time."

Oh, I see. Hmm…

* * *

Producer couldn't help but smile at the grade book. Well. He had every reason to - slowly but surely, his students' grades were correlating and leveling off around… B-! His top student was Ms. Nishikino. He sighed remembering how well she articulated her words. What a headstrong young lady, he thought. Professor was positive that Maki would be a great fluent English speaker some day.

Fortunately, Maki was changing her mind, also slowly but surely, about Professor. Mostly, she had hope that he would give her more of a challenge. Or what everyone else in the class thought unpossible. Yes, unpossible, not impossible.

 **Based off something we actually did in Spanish class. :D**


	7. Personal Professional Nouns

November!

"I'm so excited for practice today!"

"We're going to start going to the gym!"

"I'm so not excited for practice today..." Rin pouted. "Really, Honoka?"

"Yeah! What's so bad about going to the gym?"

"Aren't we fit enough?"

Hanayo's eyes widened. "... is this because... you think I'm fat?"

Honoka gasped. "No, of course not!"

"Am I?"

"No, Hanayo..." Umi assured her.

"Anyways! We'll all be going to Bunkyou Sogo Gymnasium! You know where it is, right?"

"Yes, I already have a membership there," Maki muttered, noticing that Nico was poking her annoyingly. Annoying. What a common word here...

"Fantastic!"

"Хорошо. I go there too," Eli added.

"Membership fees won't be a problem, right?"

"Probably not..."

* * *

"Why do we have to go the earliest...?"

"We're split into our years so that we don't all appear there at once and get instantly recognized."

"This sucks..." Rin sighed as she walked in. "Nice place."

Hanayo shivered. There were lots of strong-looking people abou-

"Daniel!"

"Yes?" The named man ran over to the caller.

"We finished fixing the treadmill!"

"Aww, sweet."

 _They're speaking in English..._ she thought. Then it hit her.

"... Professor?" Now that she thought about it, why had he never mentioned his name? Was this an American thing? Nope, nope, not at all possible, even in A-

Suddenly this tall woman walked over to the two men and leaned on the wall. "Finished my hour."

"How many calories did you burn?"

"874."

"Whoa."

"Holy... wow. Is that your best?"

"Better than 765."

"Fantastic." The larger man wrote it down, while Daniel pat the woman's shoulder.

Hanayo quickly looked away and whispered to Rin. "Rin! Look who it is, over there, by the wall!"

She turned and gasped. "Maki..."

"What?" She looked too. "Oh... it's... Professor!"

"Ssh!" Hanayo covered Maki's mouth. "That guy with him called him Daniel. I think that woman is his friend, or something."

"We'd better not let him see us."

"Why?"

"..."

"..."

"... what's wrong with that?"

"He'll probably start speaking to us in English."

"True, true. But it would be great for us to practice-"

"No, no, it's just too weird. We can't risk it."

The three shuffled to the other side of the gym and watched as Daniel and the woman left.

"Think they're dating? Or married?"

"Probably not friends."

"They're not being very intimate... I think they're just... fr - siblings."

"Siblings... hmm."

* * *

"All right, we need someone to play Algernon and someone to play Cecily!"

Maki and some boy whose name she forgot raised their hands first, so Professor - whom Maki couldn't help but think of as Daniel - gestured for them to go the front with their books.

"All right, Taro, begin."

She sighed in relief, now that she knew his name. Taro read Algernon's first line.

 _"I love you, Cecily. You will marry me, won't you?"_ His accent made him seem almost a Hong Konger or Macanese.

 _"You silly boy! Of course. Why, we have been engaged for the last three months,"_ Maki enunciated perfectly. She understood these lines entirely, by now. Her hopes that Daniel - _Professor..._ \- would challenge the class more were realized.

Plus, this was a funny play.

 _"For the last three months?"_

 _"Yes, it will be exactly three months on Thursday."_

 _"But how did we become engaged?"_

 _Well, ever since dear Uncle Jack first confessed to us that he had a younger brother who was very wicked and bad, you of course have formed the chief topic of conversation between myself and Miss Prism. And of course a man who is much talked about is always very attractive. One feels there must be something in him, after all. I daresay it was foolish of me, but I fell in love with you, Ernest."_ Maki remembered that Jack was Ernest and the play was The Importance of Being Earnest. So it was important for Algernon to be earnest, by being Ernest as well, it seemed, _haha._

 _"Darling! And when was the engagement actually settled?"_

 _"On the 14th of February last. Worn out by your entire ignorance of my existence, I determined to end the matter one way or the other, and after a long struggle with myself I accepted you under this dear old tree here. The next day I bought this little ring in your name, and this is the little bangle with the true lover's knot I promised you always to wear."_

Taro chuckled at that. _"Did I give you this? It's very pretty, isn't it?"_

Giggles were heard throughout the classroom.

 _"Yes, you've wonderfully good taste, Ernest. It's the excuse I've always given for your leading such a bad life. And this is the box in which I keep all your dear letters."_ Maki knelt at a table, opened the box sat on it, and took out the letters tied up with blue ribbon.

 _"My letters! But, my own sweet Cecily, I have never written you any letters."_ Taro tilted his head, quite obviously stifling a grin.

 _"You need hardly remind me of that, Ernest. I remember only too well that I was forced to write your letters for you. I wrote always three times a week, and sometimes oftener."_

More giggles and chuckles.

 _"Oh, do let me read them, Cecily?"_

 _"Oh, I couldn't possibly. They would make you far too conceited."_ After shuffling through the letters once more, Maki put them back in the box. _"The three you wrote me after I had broken off the engagement are so beautiful, and so badly spelled, that even now I can hardly read them without crying a little."_

 _"But was our engagement ever broken off?"_

 _"Of course it was. On the 22nd of last March. You can see the entry if you like."_ She took up her diary and flipped to the page before showing him. _"'To-day I broke off my engagement with Ernest. I feel it is better to do so. The weather still continues charming.'"_ Her face was red, though she knew not really why.

 _"But why on earth did you break it off? What had I done? I had done nothing at all. Cecily, I am very much hurt indeed to hear you broke it off. Particularly when the weather was so charming."_

Maki shot a quick glance at Da - her professor, who covered his face with his hand so that the class couldn't see how red and happy his countenance was. He read it once when he was in 10th grade, and it was just as funny now as it was back then. His sister loved Oscar Wilde.

Those may be the most pointless five words I've ever typed, other than "Er zijn te veel molekulen." And I don't even know if that makes sense.

 _"It would hardly have been a really serious engagement if it hadn't been broken off at least once. But I forgave you before the week was out."_

Taro came closer to Maki and took a knee before her. _"What a perfect angel you are, Cecily."_

"I think that's all!" the professor said, watching as the class finally let out their breaths of laughter. Even Maki couldn't resist.

Oh, wait, Rin was asleep.

Really?

*sigh*

* * *

"What's wrong, Rin?"

"Something is really bugging me. Why is it we're the only three people who know our English professor's first name, and yet nobody else in class knows his last one?"

Hanayo shrugged. "It would be too awkward to ask."

"We have to muster the strength and courage to do it," Maki affirmed her. "And then we can _achievement get_ for our troubles."

* * *

 _"Hey, guys!_ Something slipped my mind! I forgot to tell you my name!"

"Thank you, _Captain Obvious."_ Itsuki muttered. Who are these idiots?

He wrote it out. _Mr./Professor Pedersen_

"Daniel Pedersen..."

* * *

 **Yay. We are reading this play in class and it reminds me of crack! That is, apparently, my forte, so... glad I could write a decent chapter for this again. It's been what, over a year?**


	8. Can of Memes

And Pedersen found the perfect way to start January.

 _"Welcome... to ZomboCom._

 _This ... is ... ZomboCom. Welcome. This is ZomboCom; welcome ... to ZomboCom. You can do anything at ZomboCom. Anything at all. The only limit is yourself. Welcome ... to ZomboCom._

 _Welcome ... to ZomboCom. This is ... ZomboCom. Welcome ... to ZomboCom! This is ZomboCom, welcome! Yes ... This ... is ZomboCom._

 _This is ZomboCom! And welcome to you, who have come to ZomboCom. Anything ... is possible ... at ZomboCom. You can do ... anything at ZomboCom. The infinite is possible at ZomboCom. The unattainable is unknown at ZomboCom. Welcome to ZomboCom. This ... is ZomboCom._

 _Welcome to ZomboCom. Welcome. This ... is ... ZomboCom. Welcome ... to ZomboCom! Welcome ... to ZomboCom."_

 **"Sign Up For The NewZLetter."**

Pedersen clicked on it.

"Sorry this is not working right now. ThankZ for your patience."

He looked up at his confused class. Some of the students were still dying of laughter while the others sat, pale, staring at the large screen.

"What... even..." Maki stuttered.

Then Pedersen began to play "Never Going to Give You Up."

* * *

"... well, that was... interesting."

"It was so funny!" Rin giggled.

Hanayo was still shivering. _"Welcome... welcome... welcome... ZomboCom... you... anything... is... limit... ZomboCom..."_

"I think Professor Pedersen destroyed Hanayo's brain, nya..."

"Americans are so strange," Maki muttered.

"I think they're pretty cool! They're... quirky."

* * *

"The Japanese are so quirky!"

"I know, right?"

* * *

"Cultural

* * *

differences

* * *

I

* * *

suppose?"

* * *

"Maybe?"

Hanayo shrugged, having regained control.

"Wait... don't we have a test, coming up?"

Maki's eyes widened. "Oh! It's tomorrow! I can't believe I forgot!"

"Such is the power of , nya~"

"Maybe... let's go." She took their hands and bolted for her house.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaa~"

* * *

"Oh, dear, it's another speaking one..."

Hanayo tensed up. "No."

"Yeah..."

"What could go wrong?"

* * *

 _"What do you use technology for at home?"_

 _"I spend most of the time reading news on the Internet... mostly science and medical-related articles."_

...

 _"What is your favorite genre of music?"_

 _"My favorite has to be... ele...kkutoronikku."_

 _"Lovely. Mine, too!"_

Hanayo blushed pinkly and smiled softly.

...

 _"Do you prefer video games or movies?"_

 _"Video games, because they're interactive and have you pushing buttons insutedo of sitting around, doing nottingu!"_

* * *

"We all passed!"

"This calls for celebration!"

"Oh, really?" Honoka tackled Maki to the floor.

"Hey!"

"Maki, I have a challenge for you!"

"What is it...?"

"You know how we use a lot of English words in our song titles and lyrics?"

"Yeah."

"I want you to write a song entirely in English that we can perform!"

Eyes go wide. _"WHAT?"_

 _"Yuu herudo mi!"_

 _"Yu herudo haru, Maki,"_ Eli snickered. "You're better at English than any of us. Maybe Rin and Hanayo can help you, too."

Hanayo jumped at the mention of her name.

"Why don't you write a song in Russian, then, Eli?"

"I don't know what it would be about. It would end up sounding like Katyusha."

"What's that like?"

"Расцветали яблони и груши,

Поплыли туманы над рекой;

Выходила на берег Катюша,

На высокий берег, на крутой."

"That sounds beautiful, what's it about?"

"A girl singing about her love who is off fighting to defend Rodina, the Motherland."

"Why haven't I heard about it before, then?"

"Because it's from the early Soviet era."

"All I found was this," Nico noted, staring at her phone. "...

Fischia il vento e infuria [urla] la bufera,

scarpe rotte e pur bisogna andar

a conquistare la rossa primavera

dove sorge il sol dell'avvenir.

A conquistare la rossa primavera

dove sorge il sol dell'avvenir."

"That sounds nice, t-"

 _"Hei! Ui aru supposudo tu bi tarukingu... abauto..."_ Honoka sighed. "English is too hard for me to speak in."

"And that is why we need Maki to do it."

"But will anyone understand us?"

"Maybe about a billion people! We have to expand our horizons outside Japan!"

"That was the most un-Japanese thing I've heard," Nozomi giggled.

"Well, aren't you Nadeshiko Yamato," Kotori joked.

"Will you help me, then, Rin, Hanayo?"

Hanayo jumped again. "Oh, s-sure!"

"Okay! Sounds fun!"

"I suppose we should try listening to some music in English, first..."

* * *

 _"Let's go dancing, ooh la la la"_

 _"We don't need another hero"_

 _"I need a hero"_

 _"With hearts on fire I reach out to you tonight"_

 _"Master of puppets is pulling your strings"_

 _"All the other kids with the pumped-up kicks"_

 _"Dancing on the ceiling"_

 _"I must have called a thousand times"_

 _"It's the final countdown"_

 _"So live a life you will remember"_

 _"I want my honey"_

 _"Get down Saturday night"_

 _"Something's in the air"_

 _"I'm a Barbie girl"_

 _"One more time"_

 _"Why hesitate when there's nothing to lose"_

 _"Get down, get down"_

 _"Swimswimswim and you might just win"_

 _"Under my umbrella"_

"... this will be harder than I first thought. And I thought it would be excruciatingly hard, at first..."

 _"Yo-yo-you're just my type"_

 _"I wish that I could be like the cool kids"_

 _"Girls just wanna have fun"_

 _"Express yourself, create the space"_

 _"Dance you into the sunlight"_

 _"Tripped on my stepping stone"_

 _"And another one gone, and another one gone"_

 _"Had the guts, got the glory"_

 _"Drop it like it's hot"_

 _"You're the best around"_

 _"If you hear any noise, it ain't the boys"_

 _"Ambitionz as a rider"_

 _"I'm staying aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive"_

By then the three were asleep.

* * *

 **I keep breaking that rule about using non-public domain lyrics :P**

 **If you can guess more than ten of those songs you are a hero**


	9. 推定震度は7です

February. Almost the end of school.

Rain pat on the window. Everything was silent inside, except for the fan that must have been left on by accident. At least the kotatsu table heater turned off automatically. Maki sat up and yawned softly, letting her purple eyes scan around the room.

The computer had turned off a long time ago as well.

 _… I barely remember what happened last night…_

"Oh, Maki, you're awake!" Hanayo smiled and waved.

"Hanayo! What happened?"

"We fell asleep. I was the last one."

"Did we find a good song to take inspiration from?"

"I don't think so… unfortunately. But maybe this is a sign, that we just have to do this on our own."

"Self-fulfilling prophecy?"

"Maybe…" Maki shrugged and opened the computer. The last song was called "Cocoon".

 _What a strange name for a song…_

A window flashed up showing a map of Japan and some numbers.

There was a house over Tokyo and a star near Kōbe.

"緊急地震速報、地震しました。"

"Hmm?"

"Hanayo, wake the others!"

"Why?"

"Just do it!" Maki looked around. "What do we do, what do we do?"

Hanayo was tapping everyone awake.

Most of the answers were of confusion or annoyance, or both.

"Twenty seconds…"

"Twenty seconds to what?" Honoka yawned.

"Something common…" "In Japan?" "Sure." "Ten." "Wait a minute." Eli sat up. "Nine." "What's counting down?" "Eight." Rin and Nico looked around. "Seven." Umi glanced at the computer and knew everything. "Six." "It's an earthquake." "Five." "Interesting…" Nozomi quickly ducked. "Four." "What do we do?" "Three." "Hope it's not too strong-" "Two." "-when it gets here." "One." "Hold on!" "Zero." Only the sound of rain, and some shaking. Some more shaking. More shaking. Nico, Rin, and Hanayo huddled together while the others kept as low as possible. Shaking.

Rain.

"… that's it."

"It's over?"

"Seems so."

"… what time is it?"

"8:02."

"… should we go to school?"

 _"Get down, get down"_

"You know… YouTube has nothing on NicoNico Douga."

"Of course you'd say that, Nico."

* * *

"Mr. Pedersen isn't here, today," Mrs. Mori announced.

"Huh?" Rin pouted. "Why's that?"

"Well, he became sick over the weekend… and earlier today a bottle fell over his head." "

Oh, dear…"

Hanayo sighed. "Will he be all right?"

"Yes, he should be back tomorrow. Now, he left me some instructions which I shall simply write on the board…"

"Write a short little story using what you know about English. It can be about anything you want, don't feel afraid ^^; But at least a paragraph would be nice. If you want, you can work together with another person or two :)"

"… I think Professor Pedersen uses the Internet too much."

"Not important, nya. Obviously, the three of us are working together, right?"

"Y-yeah…"

The three sat there, looking on, trying to figure out an idea for a story.

"Wait… maybe this could help us with our English song?"

"Yeah, but… I was hoping we could have Professor help us with that."

"Do you think Mori-sensei knows English?"

"We have one way to find out." Maki raised her hand, and Mori walked over.

 _"How is your English, if I may so inquire, Mrs. Mori?"_

Mori flushed. _"U-uh, umm… ai habu notto yūzudo itto in y…īazu."_

"Ah."

 _"Maar ik kan spreek aan u voor in Nederlands."_

"What?"

 _"Nederlands. Weet u wat dat is?"_

"…"

"It's Dutch. Spoken in the Netherlands. I haven't needed that in years, either, but it's better than my English…"

"Ah, all right…" Maki nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Mori," she quickly added before Mori went to answer another student's question.

"What did she say, what did she say?" Rin asked, impatient.

"THat her English is not good… but if we ever need help with Dutch, we could talk to her."

Hanayo nodded sheepishly. "Dutch… what's that like?"

"Dutch? I know Dutch! Oh, and Danish," a girl next to them chimed in.

"That's so cool!"

"Can you say something for us? Hmm? Hmm?" Still impatient, Rin.

 _"Ja."_

Rin blinked.

"That's yes in… German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, as far as I know."

"Amazing!"

 _"Ik denk dat nikujaga is lekker and vind klompen leuk," she said in Dutch._

"I heard nikujaga!"

"I like nikujaga," Hanayo mused.

"It's all right," Maki muttered.

"I think nikujaga is nice and I like clogs," the girl clarified with a giggle.

"And that's…?"

"Dutch. Here's some Danish: _Jeg kun ønsker at have noget kaffe og rødgrød med fløde! I just want to have come coffee and berry porridge with cream!"_

"That sounds very Danish."

"I thought you might agree."

"Maybe you can help us with a story?"

"Really, my only idea involves the story of a guy walking down a street, looking around, thinking about how insignificant he is, realizing what he's taken for granted and failed to appreciate… something from there."

"Hmm, okay…"

"It could be a love story. Maybe he finds a girl having a similar experience."

"Maybe he meets many people who feel the same way."

"Maybe…"

* * *

"Thanks for helping me with my story, guys! _Jullie zijn fantastisch!"_ The girl beamed.

"Thanks for letting us work on it with you." Maki sighed and rested her head on the table. "Two minutes to the end of class…"

"I think we should write a song about…" Hanayo took a second to word her idea properly. "A girl being thankful for the simple things in life."

"Sounds interesting!" Rin chuckled.

"Let's do that, then!"

* * *

So the three sang the song the next time the group met on the rooftop.

"That sounds very nice," Eli admitted.

"Seems just like us," Nozomi added.

"Maybe we should strive to be more like that?" Honoka wondered. Umi and Kotori nodded.

"After striving to be like me," Nico added with a grin.

"You can thank Hanayo for the wonderful idea," Maki answered.

Hanayo blushed. "Well… it was really more based off the idea of… oh, dear, I-I never got her name!"

"Who?"

"She just said she couldn't remember the name…"

"…"aww! Neither can I!" Rin shrugged. "But she spoke in Dutch and Danish. Those sound like really nice languages, nya."

"Do you think Professor Pedersen knows those?"

"Maybe…"

* * *

And Pedersen read the stories from his bed and was thoroughly impressed.

* * *

 **Oh, and his dad is Belgian-French, his mom is Moroccan-Spanish, and he knows only English and German.**

 **And he was born in Scotland.**

 **SMH**

 **Finally got another chapter out. Yay**

 **Who actually reads this story? Who likes it, even?**

 **By the way, the girl who knows Dutch and Danish is Fujiko. If anyone remembers who Fujiko is (can tell me what chapter she's from and what she did) then that would be quite the answer to the above questions.**

 **You don't even need English class, Fujiko, you need to teach us Dutch and Danish and how you, a Japanese speaker, learned both before high school.**


	10. Title

Everyone turned around when Pedersen entered. It was a ramen shop in Tōkyō in 2017(?) and it felt more a saloon in Nevada in 1890.

Pedersen just sat down at the front. The heads turned towards him again when their ears heard him speaking Japanese, proper Japanese, without some "white" accent they could only really imagine.

And Pedersen had his ramen, but couldn't say he enjoyed it. After paying he exited and saw a young woman and her son, strolling on by.

"Look, mom, a gaijin."

"Mm-hmm. One who doesn't really understand us, I imagine."

"Is that so?" Daniel said, in a tone striding the line between sarcasm and facetiousness. It was almost unnecessary.

"I thought you couldn't speak our language," the little boy noted innocently.

"It took me a few years, but I learned it. Does it sound okay?" He'd almost forgotten that the woman assumed he couldn't, and that this annoyed him.

The two nodded sheepishly.

And this boy had been speaking Japanese for six years. The Scot had been for ten.

Time to impress.

 _"Sprechen Ihr Deutsch?"_

Heads tilted.

"Maybe you should think before you assume things about gaijin. Think how hypocritical it is for you to expect them to be nice and polite and honorable, respectful of the Japanese order of life, while simultaneously being rude and cold towards them."

 _Burn._

He walked off.

This wasn't something that happened once in a blue moon, or even a red sun. Everywhere he went, he found it, but maybe it was his own fault.

* * *

Music nobody had ever heard before played in his room as Daniel sat there, playing hanafuda on his phone.

Piano.

* * *

Well, he thought nobody had ever heard it.

But some people did, of course.

Just not the people he expected.

* * *

Rin sat back, listening to the piano pieces from Disc 2, playing silently in the room.

"I wonder if Maki could play these," Umi wondered aloud.

Nozomi nodded. "Probably."

"School is almost over."

"Which means we'll graduate soon and you and Kotori and Honoka will be the new third-years…"

"Hmm…"

"I think Honoka had said something about the group disbanding…?"

"I somehow doubt it will." Umi looked to the side. I'm sure you know what I mean.

"Oh…"

"Hmm?" Nozomi turned her head to face Rin.

"We have that English final… and it'll probably be the hardest one."

"But your English is amazing."

"You think so?"

"We know so."

"Oh."

"Say something for us."

"Oh, umm… okay. _Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? …"_

* * *

Maki watched the professor with quite some curiosity. _He seems…_ "out of it" _today._

He was simply sat there, typing away, putting grades in. What a strange concept.

Lightbulb.

"Let's have a Socratic discussion!" That probably wasn't the correct term, and the discussion would not likely be very Socratic, but it was the best he could come up with.

"Scratch that! Let's just have a normal debate!"

Best idea ever.

"What's better for lunch, more filling, easier to make, healthier, etc.: a bentō box or a bowl of ramen? Ramen on the left side, bentō on the right!"

Hanayo dashed towards the right side, and soon most everyone was with her.

Rin and Taro weren't most everyone.

"Most of the class likes bentō? Really? Why can't they see how much superior ramen is?" Taro begin writing some things down on a notepad.

"I just like ramen…" Rin hummed.

"All right, ladies and mentlegen!"

"Mentlegen?" Maki facepalmed.

"It's time to brainstorm every single positive of rice! We have the clear numbers advantage, so this should not be difficult!"

"Who said you'd be our leader?" Sōsuke tilted his head.

"Well, she seems the most passionate about this, so we might as well let her," Hiroshi sighed.

"Wait. You said… rice?"

"Mm-hmm."

"This is about all of bentō."

Hanayo flushed. "… r-r-r-r-right."

"I don't think she's buying it," Maki sighed. Lots of sighing, already.

* * *

Two minutes later…

 _"Ramen is a much superior food to bentō because its preparation time is much shorter, it can be used as both a main and side dish, eaten with or without broth, with such things as miso and meat on the top…" Taro explained._

 _"And you can find shops selling ramen all over Japan. Bentō shops aren't as common," Rin added._

 _"Good, good. Bentō, your retort."_

 _"Bentō boxes include rice and rice is the best! …"_

Silence.

"Dammit, Hanayo."

"You say something, then!"

"Hmm..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

 _"I'm giving this one to bent_ _ō."_

 _"WHAT?"_

"Really?"

"Mm-hmm." He smiled warmly at the students and watched as Rin and Taro had a nice victory hug.

* * *

That night, Rin was at the ramen shop. She thought she was peripherally seeing her English professor a few seats away from her. So, naturally, she scooted to the seat next to him. "Professor!"

"Hmm?" He turned to his side and smiled at the present surprise. "Ms. Hoshizora!"

"Call me Rin," she said with a blush. "If you're okay with us speaking... this way, and not as teacher and student..."

"Then call me Daniel." He hummed a little and thanked the person who brought him his ramen. "What brings you here?"

"Ramen, of course! It's my favorite food, nya..." Rin hummed contentedly.

 _"Nya"? How cute._ "I like it a lot, also."

People had realized that the white man in the room had been speaking fluent Japanese to a Japanese girl, and even the frequenters were surprised.

"How have you been, lately? I forgot to ask."

"So-so."

"Why's that?"

"It's nothing..."

"I don't believe that. You can tell me!"

"Well..." He looked around and saw people immediately turning their gazes away from him. Turning back to Rin, Daniel admitted, "I've lived here for a while, but... I still haven't gotten used to it. I still feel out of place, even unwanted. And some times... I'm homesick. I haven't seen a Scot that wasn't my sister in days."

"You have a sister?" She didn't forget seeing _her_ at the gym some weeks before.

"Mm-hmm, she visited me for a bit... and then went off to, erm, I think Sapporo..." He shrugged. "She loves beer, I suppose. Anyways, back to what I was saying... ... I suppose that's it."

"Hmm..."

"I feel as if people still treat me like a foreigner... a dumb, ignorant tourist."

"Oh, well I know they don't all think that!"

"Yeah. I know."

"There are people who, I'm sure, when you meet them, will be interested in you as a person and not in the lighter color of your skin."

"You think so?"

"I know so, nya! There's me-"

"I."

"... I... and Maki... and Hanayo and Honoka and Kotori and Umi and Eli and Nozomi and Nico..."

Pedersen noted the polysyndeton in her sentence before wondering, "Eli Ayase?"

"Yep, the student council president!"

"Hmm, okay."

"I love everyone in μ's, and everyone in μ's loves you!"

"μ's?"

"The idol group!"

It hit him. "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH...- my ramen is getting cold." He began to eat some.

"I haven't even ordered mine," she giggled. "We appreciate what you do for us, Professor. We think you're good at what you do and we like you a lot."

And thus came the first such compliment he had received since stepping off Emirates 312 at Tokyo Haneda Airport... long before.

Red cheeks.

"Oh... th-thanks." He sighed softly. "That means a lot to me."

And it made the rest of the time spent sat together either more or less awkward.

But at least they enjoyed the food that two members of the class liked and had a subjectively better argument for.

* * *

 **Pedersen symbolizes KLab and is inspired by Michael Scott**


End file.
